Category Archives: small towns

The town of Thompsonville does not consist of a lot of houses or buildings these days. It was originally by the Betsie River when it was founded by Sumner S. Thompson who operated the Thompson Lumber Company. After the railroad bypassed the town the buildings and houses were moved next to the tracks. I am guessing if they had not done it, that it would not show up on the map today.

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If you make a trip around Lake Charlevoix, which I highly recommend you do, you will travel through the small town of Horton Bay, Besides a nice little historic general store it has this white town hall. In front of it stands a Michigan historical marker that reads:

Named for pioneer settler Samuel Horton, this village was founded as a lumbering community in 1876, complete with sawmill, shanty boys’ boarding house, company store, blacksmith shop and draft horses. The store and many early buildings still stand. After the timber was gone, three fine restaurants opened: Dilworth’s, The Waffle Shop and The Red Fox Inn. Young Ernest Hemingway frequently came here to fish and camp on “The Point.” This area is the setting for several of his famous “Nick Adams” short stories. Hemingway was married here in 1921.

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Noah Ferry founded the city at the northwest end of White Lake across from the town of Whitehall. He named it in honor of his father, William Montague Ferry, who founded the cities of Grand Haven and Ferrysburg in neighboring Ottawa County. The town is also home to the worlds largest weathervane but that is a post for a different day.

P.S. I am still working on getting comments to work since I switched over to a new server. Thank you for your patience.

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While out traveling around exploring the Mitten State I visit a lot of small towns and many of the post offices I see are a typical brick building. I assume there is a standard plan that the post office used when building them. On occasion, I come across one that is a little bit different than the ordinary post office. On my way to the White River Lighthouse north of Muskegon I came across this cute little white and green post office. The area was originally called Sylvan Beach when it was settled in 1833. When the post office was established it was named Wabaningo after the local Ottawa Chief. In the early 1900s, the area was primarily a resort community and the post office was made a branch of the Whitehall branch and is only open in the summer months.

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Traveling the back roads of Michigan, I come across many small towns. Some have a long history but unfortunately, they are not thriving like they once used to. I like to take photos that highlight the town in a good way because I know people like to be proud of where they live. I saw this old building in Woodlawn west of Lansing and it just called to me to take a photo of it. Woodland was settled by brothers Johnathan and Charles Galloway in 1837 and was given the name Woodland for the dense woods it was located in.

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A while back I posted about a small one-man town near Grayling called Coopersville. Many people let me know that there is an actual town called Coopersville. Since I was near it recently I had to take a trip through the town of Coopersville between Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. I thought it was a beautiful town, but I did not have much time to explore it, so I guess I will have to take a trip back to it sometime now that I know where it is.

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French Missionary Priest Father Jacques Marquette came to the Great Lakes in 1668 and started a mission which became the town of Sault Ste. Marie. In the Lower Peninsula, he erected a cross on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. The Native Americans referred to the area as “The Land Of The Cross” and it became what is now Cross Village. A white cross still stands there today overlooking Lake Michigan.

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You could possibly call it a ghost town but a few people still live in Palms located in the Thumb between Cass City and Lake Huron. I figured a name like palms it was named after the palm tree but as any astute Michigander will tell you there are no palm trees in Michigan. The village was settled in 1850 by Canadians John Smith & Michael Dyer. It was businessman Francis Palms who owned most of the land for timber, and when he brought the railroad to the little community in 1881 they named the town in his honor.

Palms owned the most land in Michigan in the mid-1800s in both the Lower and Upper Peninsulas. After harvesting the timber he sold the land but retained the mineral rights. He made a fortune of the copper that was discovered under the property he once owned. He was the president of the Michigan Stove Company and vice president of the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad. At the time of his death, his estate and savings were worth over ten million dollars. The largest estate in Michigan at the time.

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Traveling down M-25 from Bay City into the Thumb you pass through the town of Unionville. The sign welcoming travelers proudly says “Gateway To The Thumb” The town was founded in 1854 when Horace C. Marvin built the first home in the area. He also built and operated a general store and was the towns first postmaster. He named the town Unionville after his native town of Union Ohio.

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This old church stands in the small town of Elm Hall. The first settlers were three brothers. Michael, Nathaniel and Jacob Strayer came to the area in 1855. The brothers along with their wives lived in a large hall they constructed of elm logs, and hence the name of the town.